Paint Schoodic

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Friday, June 2, 2017

How to avoid getting scammed

Is this art buyer
legitimate or pulling an internet swindle? I asked the hive for help.

I sold this painting to an online contact. Since then, she's become a valued friend.

There are two schools of thought among artists: those who
embrace on-line selling and those who don’t. I’m strongly in the
bricks-and-mortar camp, but I do occasionally sell paintings to people who see
my work online.

I’m usually happy to oblige and in most cases, it works just fine.

People who regularly sell work from their websites usually accept
payment through third parties like PayPal. That insures that they get their
money. It gets dicey when someone wants to pay by check.

This week, I’ve been communicating with a buyer who is
setting off a low-level vibration in my fraud detector. I checked a number of sources
for advice. Here’s their consensus:

Check references

That’s difficult with an online contact, but I Googled him and
came up with nothing. As a control, I ran the name of one of my students, my late
aunt, and a sister-in-law who doesn’t use a computer. I found all of them.

This painting of the Delaware Water Gap sold to someone who saw it on my blog. There were no problems in the transaction.

Always use a trusted
middle man

The fees we pay to systems like galleries (online or
real-world), eBay, PayPal and credit card companies are there in part to cover
the risks involved in commerce.

If it looks too good
to be true, it probably is.

Artists are particularly vulnerable because we are
emotionally involved with our product. It’s hard to be objective about when a
response is normal and reasonable, and when it isn’t.

I’ve noticed serious buyers generally have a specific
painting or subject in mind when they contact me directly. Scammers have no
real interest in the content, and don’t tend to ask incisive questions.

Don’t be overeager.

This is hard advice for the impecunious artist to follow,
but scams work because their victims’ excitement blinds them to the deal’s
faults.

Low Bridge (Erie
Canal) 40X30, is probably only going to sell online, since I no longer have
any gallery representation in New York.

Never accept personal
checks and only accept checks for the exact amount.

You mustn’t ship the painting until the check clears, no
matter how much urgency the client expresses.

Does the money pass the sniff test?

We’ve all heard of the Nigerian money scam
and its many daughters. Nearly all online scams start with an unusual financing
request from the buyer, often including an overpayment.

The same is probably
true of this little study of the Queensboro Bridge approach. It’s a good
painting, but it’s not going to sell in a Maine gallery.

Avoid buyers with too
many stories.

This is a red flag for me in the conversation I’m currently
having. He might be a “Chatty Cathy,” or he might be trying to muddy the
waters. But the sob story, in all its wonderful permutations, is the oldest
scam around.

As Frank Scafidi, public affairs director of the National
Insurance Crime Bureau told
USA Today, “Slow down, ask questions
and don’t become emotionally involved in the sale.”